John 14

     14:1.  Don’t miss the unbroken connection of thought between 13:38 and 14:1.  “Don’t trust in yourself.  Your resolve will fail.  But when I am gone (13:33), don’t be troubled.  Keep believing in the Father and in me.”

     14:2-4.  The separation will not be long (cf.13:36).  “Dwelling places,” v.2, is the same Greek word (in plural) as “abode,” in v.23.  Some form of the word “abide” is used repeatedly in John 14 and 15 (e.g. 14:2,10,17,25; 15:4,5, etc.).

     14:6.  Everyone should memorize this verse and have it in their heart.  There is no salvation except through Christ.  There are not “many ways” to God.  Truth is not plural.  There is only one source of life, and Christ is it.  If we come to God, it will be by the way he has provided, and no other.  This is the new covenant regulative principle of worship.  Cf. Acts 4:12.

     14:10-11.  Jesus once again makes the same points he has made over and over.  He and the Father are one.  All his words are the Father’s initiative, and his words (outrageous though they would be on a mere man’s lips) are validated as coming from the Father by the works of divine power which the Father abiding in him does.  Seeing is believing (Luke 7:22).  Believe on account of the works (cf. 5:30,36).  Take away Jesus’ miracles, and there is no reason to believe him.

     14:12-21.  So what does Jesus mean, that the disciples shall do greater works than these (12)?

     “The same power that raised Christ from the grave is exerted in the conversion of a sinner,  Eph.1:19-20.”  “…there are many miracles wrought in conversion.  The blind is made to see, the dead raised, and the deaf hears the voice of the Son of God.”  Thomas Boston, Com. on the Shorter Catechism, Vol.1, p.93.

     Jesus is sending the Spirit of truth to abide with these men (17).  By the “foolishness” of their preaching and writing, accompanied by the power of God, the whole world will receive the word of life, and all the elect be converted.

     14:15,21.  Those who love Christ obey him.

     14:23,31.  In response to the question in v.22, Jesus promises to disclose himself to anyone who obeys him out of love (23).  Likewise, his love for the Father is seen by the world in his obedience to the Father’s commandments (31;15:10), obedience even to death on the cross (cf.12:27; Ps.40:8).

     14:26.  The inspiration of the Holy Spirit promised here resulted in the NT (14-17; 16:13-14; cf. Acts 11:15f.).

     14:31b.  “Arise, let us go from here.”  They had already left the upper room (see notes at 13:36).  On their way to Gethsemane (18:1), they were apparently moving from place to place in secret, and probably stopped next in a vineyard, where Jesus addressed them again (15:1).